St Patrick's Day Ride (A Couple Days Later) with the HOG Chapter

I have had some bad experiences riding in big groups.  Usually, it was riders acting like the ugly biker,  but there was the one time where a person wrecked just because he was being stupid.   So for the last few years, I have avoided riding with groups, but this all changed last Sunday.

I have been a member Harleys Owner Group (HOG), here in Clarksville for a couple of years now and I finally was talked into doing a group ride with them.  What a fantastic experience, it was fun getting out there with 35 other bikes riding as one.   Before the ride, the ride leader had a safety briefing and the road Captains controlled the flow of traffic.  It was a very smooth affair.

We set off from Appletons Harley Davidson in Clarksville on a cold morning with kick stands up at 9 AM.   Our destination is the Bull and Thistle an Irish Pub on the town square of Gainsboro Tennessee about 120 miles away.  Our ride starts in the low 40's  it is cold on the Motorcycle today, my flannel lined jeans save me from freezing more than I did.  We make 2 stops on the way to Gainsboro to warm up,

After the 2nd stop, we ride some twisting roads.  Ending up on Tennessee Highway 53 the southern approach to Gainsboro.  It was an exhilarating feeling; 35 bikes moving through the hill country of Tennessee, creating one long sake of connected riders.  Navigating turn after turn becoming one with the road.

It was all too short before we reached the Bull and Thistle; in the town square, where their theme is Celtic Roots and Southern roads.  Tennessee has a rich Irish heritage immigrating during the Great Potato Famine in Ireland 1840 thru 1850.   Settling in rocky hilly areas passed up by other settlers on land thought to be unproductive.  They made a life where others wouldn't and were successful.

I had lunch with 3 people I was happy to meet.  Finding out that I had crossed paths in Afghanistan with 1 person.  During a discussion about the nature of man, one person said,  " It is a fact that all males will eventually become men.  The question is what kind of a man are you going to be?"  We all must make the decision to either be a better person or not.  It was a great day for a ride to think about such things.

After finishing my corned beef sandwich it was time to head home.  After achieving our final destination we all break-up and make our way back individually of in small groups.  Instead of the interstate, I decide to take Highway 56, a winding road up to Lafayette from there Highway 52 to Portland, Springfield then finally Clarksville.

It was a long day starting a 9 am and finally getting home around 7 pm, but I would not want to be anywhere else but on my Motorcycle contemplating life.